Massachusetts (Boston) Male
Aged 52 | Born 1963
Full Kit
About the Speaker
"I’m 52 years old I was born in Boston. I grew up just outside of Boston in basically a borough of Boston called Brookline. Middle class all the way went to public school, Brookline High … My father was from Boston … All my family are still there … We’re Jewish."
Preview Clip
This kit contains all the elements of a full Accent Kit
£10.00
About Boston, Massachusetts
Boston is the capital of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city covers 48 square miles (124 km2) with an estimated population of 655,884 in 2014, making it the largest city in New England and the 24th largest city in the United States.
Boston is one of the oldest cities in the United States. In the 1820s, Boston’s population grew rapidly, and the city’s ethnic composition changed dramatically with the first wave of European immigrants. Irish immigrants dominated the first wave of newcomers during this period, especially following the Irish Potato Famine; by 1850, about 35,000 Irish lived in Boston. In the latter half of the 19th century, the city saw increasing numbers of Irish, Germans, Lebanese, Syrians, French Canadians, and Russian and Polish Jews settled in the city. By the end of the 19th century, Boston’s core neighbourhoods had become enclaves of ethnically distinct immigrants—Italians inhabited the North End, Irish dominated South Boston and Charlestown, and Russian Jews lived in the West End. Irish and Italian immigrants brought with them Roman Catholicism. Currently, Catholics make up Boston’s largest religious community.
Now the people of Irish descent form the largest single ethnic group in the city, making up 15.8% of the population, followed by Italians, accounting for 8.3% of the population. People of West Indian and Caribbean ancestry are another sizable group, at 6.0% about half of whom are of Haitian ancestry. The city and greater area also has a large immigration population of South Asians, including the tenth-largest Indian community in the country.
The city has a sizable Jewish population with an estimated 25,000 Jews within the city and 227,000 within the Boston metro area. The adjacent communities of Brookline and Newton are both approximately one-third Jewish. The city, especially the East Boston neighbourhood, has a significant Hispanic community.
Boston flourished culturally with members of old Boston families—eventually dubbed Boston Brahmins—coming to be regarded as the nation’s social and cultural elites.
(Wikipedia 2015)